Gabriel Heinze: The big brother helping Mikel Arteta to get Arsenal over the line
After three consecutive Premier League runners-up finishes, Mikel Arteta was left searching for answers.
What will it take to turn Arsenal into a champion? The team needed more depth. The mentality needed to be tougher.
The club responded by signing eight new players. Yet the most important summer arrival may be the least visible. Arteta has turned to one of his oldest and most trusted allies: former Argentina, Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze, who replaced outgoing assistant Carlos Cuesta.
Arteta and Heinze first met at PSG in 2001, under the management of Luis Fernandez.
“They were great kids,” says Fernandez, who signed Arteta from Barcelona in January 2001 and Heinze from Real Valladolid six months later.
“It’s been a pleasure to manage them. The great thing is they haven’t changed. They’re exactly the same today; loyal, hard-working people. I’m so proud to see what they’ve done at Arsenal.”
At this important moment in Arteta’s managerial career, it is extremely significant that he turns to a man who fulfilled his role as a big brother to him at PSG.
Arteta was only 18 years old when he left his hometown. He recently described the 18 months he spent in Paris as “an experience that will stay with me forever, one that shaped who I wanted to be as a player and sparked my desire to become a manager.”
That PSG team was full of stars and strong personalities. In addition to Heinze, Arteta also shared the dressing room with Ronaldinho, Mauricio Pochettino, Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka.
Despite the presence and support of his parents, the first months were difficult for the shy and introverted Spaniard.
“It was very difficult,” recalls Yves Ribardiere, PSG’s player liaison officer at the time. “Mikel lived in a very basic hotel. It was winter, it was cold and grey. He was in this little room and had a lot of time to kill. So I would stay with him to make sure he didn’t get upset.”
PSG’s Spanish speakers also helped smooth the transition. Pochettino, then 28, took Arteta under his wing before Heinze arrived. “Mauricio was like a father figure,” recalls former PSG defender Didier Domi. “Gabi was closer to Mikel’s age and more like a sister.”
Heinze is four years older than Arteta, but there was immediate chemistry between the two. “They were together in training and spent time with their families off the field,” Fernandez recalls.
“Gabi was a fierce competitor and always wanted to do better than her opponent. Mikel was more of an elegant player with real technical qualities,” adds the PSG legend, who captained the club to its first league title in 1986 and won the European Cup Winners’ Cup as manager a decade later.
Edouard Cisse insists that the pair have a lot in common. “They were both intense and passionate,” explains Cisse, who accompanied Arteta in PSG’s midfield. “Gabi gave everything, even in training. He had to win. Mikel was calmer. But you knew not to rub him the wrong way. He had the advantage of a tough Basque.”
